Pedalling across Andaman

We landed in Port Blair, checked-in to the hotel and had good time to walk around Port Blair. We toured the cellular jail and came across most of our fellow flight passengers (me too, you too moments). During trips, I love to connect to the place, not as a tourist but to be more part of the place/locals. Our itinerary was planned to include off-beat places avoiding popular tourist stops, and so we would have options to connect with the place. Andaman had a slice of India (mini-india), settlers were from Tamilnadu, West Bengal, Andhra, Northern India etc., it made me wonder, aren’t there any natives? We met other participants during the evening briefing session, professors, doctors (human doctors & a cycle doctor), even businessmen (with a guitar), quite a few teachers/professors, sports head from Auroville (Pondy), kids, fresh graduate, and some from IT industry. It was quite a diverse group from different professions, different cities, and age groups (13-60), unlike Bangalore ev...

 After a sumptuous breakfast, we prepped for the day’s ride. Cycles shipped from Chennai were all assembled and ready to roll-on, thanks to the cycle doctor Rajashekar. Some of them had shipped their own bicycles, I chose to rent and hence picked up a hybrid one (Merida hybrid crossway). All bicycles were brand new and was glad to get a right size for me. We flagged off from cellular jail, port blair. Local cyclist Prasad joined us today as mentor cyclist. Route was port blair round trip, distance of 55 KMs (strava recording not accurate) .  Cellular jail to Chatham jetty point – jetty ride - Bamboo flat – Mt. Harriet – jetty point – lunch – Tirang point – Chidiyatapu via Carbyn’s cove beach.  Ride was a cruise in well paved roads very close to the sea. It was fulfilling feeling to pedal in-between sea and greenery               Enroute Mt.Harriet is a viewpoint of lighthouse, scenic view imprinted in our old 20 Rs. currency no...

Plan for the day is to leave Port Blair, ride from south Andaman to middle Andaman, total of 58KM cycling followed by TT ride (support vehicle) crossing Jarawa reserve forest and covering the last leg in a jetty to reach Baratang. Route is Port Blair – Tushnabad – Ferrargunj – Wimberlyganj – Shoal Bay 19 – Lunch at Shoal Bay 19 – boat ride to Shoal Bay beach – TT ride (in support vehicle) – Jetty to Baratang – TT ride to Coral Creek hotel. We pedalled out of Port Blair town, crossing suburbs, the ride itself was not by the sea or greenery but in hot sun, at least first 20 KMs.  Roads were good though; we took good breaks with juice and banana at small petty shops. Brij Krishna IIMB professor caught up with me, he, and his brother Purushotham(Puru) looked so similar and are often mistaken for twins.  It was hard to distinguish them. Brij was truly a bridge across India and America with his family still living there, while he worked passionately at IIMB. One of them even wore a ...

Today’s plan was to leave Baratang by van, cross another section of Jarawa reserve to yerratta jetty point, jetty will take us to long island from where we will take another speed boat to Lalaji Bay. I started my morning with a small walk in Baratang, got to know from tamil vegetable shopkeeper that except for few veggies all others are being imported from mainland.  Bihari forest guard, settled for generations in island uses the cosy bamboo shelter for his duties before winding up for home via local bus. Simple life with simple needs, satisfied with simple job helps to wind-up from work at 2 PM. Chidu was waiting for this day, to hit the beach and snorkel, he had convinced me to buy one too. All along the TT ride Chidu was getting ready, checking his rented GoPro camera to record corals and sea life, while Raj Kiran was sharing her experiences/work observing birds and wildlife, she has apparently done lot of work with Karnataka wildlife department. Raj and Dheeraj were an intere...

  Today’s 70KM ride was packed with halts at picnic spots enroute, to reach MayaBhunder. Route is Rangat – halt at Morci dera – halt at Dhaninallah(mangrove walk) – Sea & Sand hotel at MayaBhunder (strava recording is not fully accurate). Today’s morning walk treated us with hot crispy vadas, just like the ones I get at my hometown Madurai, Madurai vadas in Bengali town is possible at Andaman. We also met a Nicobari who impeccably imitates dog, sheep and many more farm animals entertaining the morning crowd at tea shop. Nicobaris are distinguishable, their features resembling Mongolian race and they carry special quotas for government jobs, regularly commuting to Andaman for work. Dheeraj had arranged for surprise birthday cake to celebrate Ganesh’s birthday, an elite athlete, true GOAT. He was a different league in many ways, cruising the Andaman tour in road bike, ascending Kilimanjaro in three days, Mt. Meru in a day, this tour was to expand his experience to his son Semmal ...

  Today was a pure ride day of 93KMs with an elevation gain of 1000m, no halt at any picnic spot en route. Deprived of good sleep before the day of long ride, I was determined to complete the ride before 4 pm. Well aware of my stamina and endurance levels, I did not want a repeat of my GMC 100k ride to Agumbe, where I was completely drained and finished the ride with support light by 6.30pm. We left early at 6.30 with a light breakfast, I carried with me a sandwich too. Today’s ride was to reach Diglipur, North Andaman, with no planned halts or touring spots.  Me and Chiddu rode together, and we planned the ride very well, break after every 25 kms, water breaks as required, and distance check every hour, goal was to cover 15 kmph at an average. During my Agumbe ride, I had no track of distance or time, it was just going on and on, the psychological feeling of expectations (flat ride) vs reality (malnad flat has recurring ascends & downs) drained me further. This time my no...